The KMM Blog features true crime writer Robert A. Waters’ analysis of cold unsolved cases and commentary about modern and historical crimes. Kidnapping. Murder. Mayhem. They're as old as human history, and as fascinating.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Have You Seen Dennis Melvyn Howe? by Robert A. Waters

This case has haunted me for years. If Howe isn’t dead, he could be living in your community. He’s a true bogeyman, a sexual psychopath who preys on young girls. He was sent to prison for assaulting a 13-year-old girl and again for kidnapping and raping a young woman. If he’s not caught soon, at least he’ll get his just reward in Hell.

It’s been 25 years since the kidnap, rape, and murder of Sharin’ Morningstar Keenan shocked the peaceful city of Toronto, Canada. The pretty nine-year-old was playing in Jean Sibelius Park when a convicted child rapist named Dennis Melvyn Howe (sometimes spelled Dennis Melvin Howe) abducted her.

Ten days later, after one of the largest searches in Canadian history, Sharin’ was found in a cheap flat across from the park. A recent story in Sun Media, written by Thane Burnett, relates how she was found. As cops searched the apartment, an investigator opened a refrigerator and the child’s body spilled out. She'd been raped and strangled. (One of the two investigators who found her later committed suicide--he couldn't bear the thought that they had been too late to save the innocent girl.)

At the time, it was thought that Howe would be quickly captured. But while he was not a sophisticated man, he was street-smart and had a ten-day head-start. Immediately after the crime, he took a bus to Winnipeg, but there his trail ran cold. Somehow, he has managed to avoid police for a quarter of a century.

Police have followed thousands of leads, even going so far as to exhume a man they thought might be Howe. It wasn’t.

Today, the murderer would be 67-years-old. He is 5’9” tall and at the time of the murder weighed 165 pounds. He’s probably gained weight. He has brown eyes and had brown hair, although it may be gray by now. Howe has a small gap between his front teeth and a scar under his chin.

According to a police file, the murderer is left-handed. At the time of the murder, he was a chain-smoker, and liked Players unfiltered cigarettes. He was also a heavy drinker who listened to country-western music. If you've seen Dennis Melvyn Howe, call the Toronto Police Homicide Squad at 416-808-7400.